Automatically Switched Optical Network (ASON) is a new-generation optical transport network which implements the optical network switching connection function automatically in an intelligent way. In order to implement the automatic switching connection function, the ASON needs to have basic functions, including automatic resource discovery (for example, neighbor discovery, topology discovery, and service discovery), routing function, and signaling function.
In the ASON, when the optical network switching connection is configured through the Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) signaling mechanism, the following circumstances occur:
In the case that the core network adopts the full optical switching equipment massively, precise fault locating is difficult if no automatic optical/non-optical monitoring capability is available. When the number of fiber links between adjacent NEs increases, the routing protocol is unable to perform link attribute notification for such numerous data links. For the numerous fiber links, the adjacent NEs are unable to identify the links correctly in the case of non-manual configuration; and the management on local links is inconsistent with the management on remote links. The foregoing contents are about ASON resource management. Therefore, the standardization organization has formulated a Link Management Protocol (LMP) for link resource management.
The existing LMP supports Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) interfaces. For SDH interfaces, test messages are transferred through the logical channels provided by the overhead bytes in the SDH frame. That is, the LMP entity of the transmitter NE constructs a test message packet. The packet includes 16 bytes regularly, and extra bytes are input as 0s. The 16-byte test messages are inserted cyclically into the J0 overhead bytes of an SDH frame through a lower-layer driver, and SDH frames are sent. The receiver NE extracts J0 overhead bytes according to the 16 received J0 SDH frames, makes the 16 extracted J0 overhead bytes into a 16-byte test message packet, and sends the test message packet to the LMP entity of the receiver NE through the lower-layer driver.
The solution under the prior art only deals with transferring the test messages through an SDH interface so that the LMP can support auto discovery of SDH links of the data plane. However, because the control plane of the Transport MPLS Multiprotocol Label Switching (TMPLS)/Provider Backbone Transport (PBT) network uses the GMPLS, the data plane of the TMPLS/PBT transport network uses the Ethernet data interface widely. No solution is currently available to support auto discovery of the Ethernet physical links. That is, the technical solution to transferring test messages on the Ethernet data interface is pending.